Array Inc signs letter of intent to list on GRETAI

EYEING TAIWAN Chinatrust Securities said two or three other US companies were considering the local bourse but would wait until the stock market had rebounded

By Joyce Huang / STAFF REPORTER

Silicon Valley-based Array Inc has signed a letter of intent with Chinatrust Securities Co (中國信託綜合證券) to become the first US high-tech company to list on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market.

Array plans to enter the Emerging Stock Market next month for a statutory period of six months before it finalizes its decision to list either on the GRETAI or the Taiwan Stock Exchange in September, David Lu (陸子元), president of Chinatrust Securities, a subsidiary of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), said by telephone yesterday.

With more than NT$600 million (US$17.7 million) in annual revenue, Array is likely to set aside initial capital of approximately NT$250 million before listing in Taiwan, Lu said, adding that details had not been finalized.

Once its fund-raising plan has been carried out, Array will use its new capital to expands both in the US and China as well as in Taiwan, he said.

Array, which was founded by Charles Palmer and Allen Deary in 1999, is a global software engineering services firm that provides outsourcing support to software developers.

It is a privately held company with no outside capital investment at this point.

The company said on its Web site that it “has been profitable since inception” and its “core engineering team has been working together for over 20 years.”

The company began offshore development in 2002 and now has a corporate headquarters in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

In addition, it has research and development centers in Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Lu said Array had seized its biggest market share in China — 43 percent — in the areas of Internet network safety.

The niche market saw a 50 percent year-on-year growth last year, he said.

Between 2005 and 2007, Deloitte listed Array on its “Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50” list of the fastest-growing companies in the Silicon Valley.

It said Array has more than 2,500 corporate customers, including Morgan Stanley, Oracle, SoftBank BB in Japan, the People’s Bank of China (中國人民銀行) and China National Petroleum Corp (中國石油天然氣).

Although the recent slump in the stock market has deterred several companies from listing in Taiwan as planned, Lu said two to three other US companies were still considering listing once the market rebounds.

In related news, Financial Supervisory Commission figures released yesterday showed that 211 publicly traded companies had raised a total of NT$470.62 billion last year, marking 12 percent growth from one year earlier, when 369 companies raised funds.

Because of the economic slump, some 35 percent of the raised funds was used by companies to repay debts, while another 31.5 percent was used for factory expansions, the commission said in a statement.